1. Field
The present disclosure relates to cutting heads for rotary trimmers and, more specifically, to a three-in-one rotary trimmer head usable with discrete lengths of string, flail blades, and fan blades. The present disclosure represents an improvement over presently existing multi-purpose trimmer heads in that there is no requirement for the trimmer head to be disassembled in order to change the different blades or strings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant is the inventor of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,758,424 and 5,896,666, the disclosures of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference in this application. Applicant's inventions of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,758,424 and 5,896,666 are directed to a cutting head for a string trimmer which accommodates any string gauge thickness and which may be easily and quickly re-threaded upon failure of the string previously disposed therein. Clamping members are provided to clamp the strings within the cutter head, with the clamping force being provided by springs and augmented by centrifugally generated moments. The clamping members are capable of generating two degrees of clamping force. The lesser degree of clamping force can be overcome by a string forceably inserted into the cutting head.
The cutting heads of applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,758,424 and 5,896,666 operate in an efficient and smooth manner, however, they are only capable of accommodating discrete strings.
There is a need for a cutting head which can accommodate different types of cutting members, such as flail blades, discrete strings, and fan blades. Fan blades are used for purposes of generating a blowing force for removing debris from sidewalks or walkways. Flail blades are used for cutting thick vegetation, as well as tall vegetation. String cutters are used to cut low vegetation, for edging vegetation areas, and for cutting vegetation near walls or other hard structures. There is also a need for a universal type trimmer head which can be rapidly and easily converted from one type of cutting means or fan blade means into a different structure depending on the work to be accomplished at that time.
There are in existence various trimmer heads which can accommodate different types of blades, such as a flail blade and a fan blade, however, those devices are cumbersome and require disassembly of the head in order to change from one type of blade to another type of blade. Hence, they are difficult to operate and time consuming in changing from one embodiment to a different embodiment.
The present disclosure overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art and provides a trimmer head which is capable of easily and quickly being converted from one type of blade structure to a different type of blade structure, without requiring disassembly of the head.